Kirsten Dunst, who famously played Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi’s Tobey Maguire-led “Spider-Man” trilogy, revealed why she would readily return to star in another superhero movie.
In an interview published Tuesday with Marie Claire, the 41-year-old actress opened up about her return to Hollywood after a two-year break and her struggles with being typecast by the industry now that she’s a mother.
“I haven’t worked in two years,” Dunst, who was Oscar-nominated in 2021 for her supporting turn as a tormented mother in Jane Campion’s “Power of the Dog,” said. “Every role I was being offered was the sad mom … There’s definitely less good roles for women my age.”
Asked if she would ever return to the superhero genre that in part made her a household name 22 years ago, Dunst was refreshingly candid.
“Yes,” she said. “Because you get paid a lot of money, and I have two children and I support my mother.”
Coming up next for the actress is Alex Garland’s “Civil War,” in which she once again acts alongside her husband Jesse Plemons. Looking ahead, she told the outlet she doesn’t think she could turn down an “incredible opportunity” in film or TV, but that today, her children’s wellbeing comes first.
“I don’t want to take my kid out of school for a role unless I cannot say no and it’s that incredible,” Dunst, who has two preschool-aged sons named Ennis and James, said. “I just don’t want to do that to him.”
She went on to say that navigating her reentry into acting after breaking for two years has been difficult for her self-esteem, particularly as a mother.
“To be honest, that’s been hard for me … because I need to feed myself. The hardest thing is being a mom and … not feeling like I have nothing for myself,” she said. “That’s every mother — not just me.”
“Civil War” hits theaters via A24 on April 12.
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